City (pop., 2000 est.: 25,257), northern Israel.
Located near Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee), it is one of the four Jewish holy cities of Palestine. It was fortified in the 1st century AD by Crusades ). It was the seat of an important school of Jewish mysticism (see Kabbala ) in the 16th century, and it became part of the modern State of Israel in 1948. It is now an artists' colony, with an economy based on light industry and tourism.